Planning for Library Services to People with Disabilities: ASCLA Changing Horizon Series #5

In response to two of the 1990 American Disabilities Act's (ADA) mandates, every public library must provide equal services to any person requesting them, regardless of disability. The ADA also mandates that no qualified individual with a disability shall be excluded from participation or be denied services or be subjected to discrimination.

Rubin has created a planning process to ensure that libraries consider all of the issues necessary to comply with the law. This method has been designed to work in conjunction with an already existing library plan. Libraries that complete this process will:

ensure that all parts of the larger plan are inclusive,

develop objectives and activities of special interest to people with disabilities are based on identified issues,

guarantee that library services are available on an equal basis to all members of the community,

attract people with disabilities to use the library, and

position the library as an information access point for people with disabilities, their relatives, and their services providers.

Rhea Joyce Rubin

Rhea Joyce Rubin has been an independent library consultant for over thirty years. She specializes in extending public library services to people who do not traditionally use the library, and in outcome measurement. Working exclusively with libraries, Rubin divides her time between consulting (problem solving, planning and evaluation) and training. She has trained more than 10,000 librarians and paraprofessionals in more than 40 states. She is the recipient of numerous awards from the American Library Association, including the Shaw Award for Library Literature in 1980 for her first two books. For more about Rubin, go to her website.